LA’S THE GALLERY (THE GALLERY, 10925 KINROSS AVENUE, LA CA, IN WESTWOOD CLOSE TO UCLA) hosts Silicon Beach’s Hero’s Odyssey Mythology Fine Art Photography Show, Lecture, & Networking Event, Saturday July 19th. We would like to invite you, your colleagues, and students to Silicon Beach’s A Celebration of Light centered about Dr. E’s Hero’s Odyssey Mythology lecture and Fine ArtPhotography which receives over 1,000,000 views/day. Join DJs and JDs, MBAs and VCs, engineers, filmmakers, videogame designers, students, writers, photographers, musicians, artists, and entrepreneurs at the Hero’s Odyssey in Arts, Entrepreneurship & Technology event! Popular Science: A microchip studded with tiny sensors may give sight to the blind. . . Such a device must be small and have a constant power supply. The solution: a microchip the size of a match head, embedded with photosensors and electrodes that translate light patterns into electrical currents to stimulate the ganglion cells. . . Scientists Wentai Liu and Elliot McGucken are evaluating the microchip in the lab before human testing begins. (the retina technology is now helping people see)

Jack Bogle ( founder and former CEO of Wall Street’s Vanguard Group) writes, “I want to thank . . . Elliot McGucken, Ph.D. . . whose course The Hero’s Odyssey in Artistic Entrepreneurship and Technology is an inspiring tribute to the relevance of classical ideals in our modern lives.” —Jack Bogle, in his book, Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life, Wiley________________________________The New York Times reports, “McGucken’s course (The Hero’s Odyssey in Arts Entrepreneurship & Technology 101). . . rests on the principle that those who create art should have the skills to own it, profit from it and protect it. “It’s about how to make your passion your profession, your avocation your vocation, and to make this long-term sustainable,” he said. –New York Times Small Business________________________________

Business Week: From Beethoven to Bob Dylan: “Every artist is an entrepreneur.” So argues Dr. Elliot McGucken, a visiting professor at Pepperdine University, in an online video introduction to his course, Art Entrepreneurship & Technology 101, which has the professor lecturing from the shore of a small lake. Among his suggestions for artists who want to be more entrepreneurial: launch a blog.” –Business Week ( https://herosodysseyentrepreneurship.wordpress.com/ ) ________________________________

William Ferriss, former Chair of the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA): Many thanks for the impressive work that you are doing. I look forward to keeping in touch and commend you on the innovative teaching you do. ________________________________

UCLA MBA Student: Dr. E—your lecture really stayed with me, and I’ve thought about it long after class. . . The way you apply mythology to entrepreneurship is innovative, inspiring, energizing and enlightening. There should be more classes like this in every MBA program, as it appealedto me as a recording artist and MBA. The mythological blueprint brings new meaning to the entrepreneurial/MBA experience, as one feels like a mythic hero on their own professional journey.

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Just honored in a way here – to give praise and thanks to such an avid artist and photographer! Everyday I can, look forward to (Dr. E’s) photostream, to see the latest endeavors he’s “Stopped in Time” for us all to enjoy! Please, please continue doing so too, for as long as you can! Have FUN and continue “Expressing” Thank You – – – DJ and K ________________________________

Jack Bogle: Your message to our nation’s young students–a message of idealism and enlightenment–is a breath of fresh air that must–and will–findits way into the musty corridors of our colleges and business schools. Perhaps your happy acronym–CREATE (Center for Renaissance Entrepreneurship, Art, Technology, and Economics).will help. Keep up the good work! –John C. Bogle, Founder & Former CEO of the Vanguard Group

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Bill Fay: It was my pleasure to join you and keynote the Hero’s Odyssey Entrepreneurship Festival. The enthusiasm of the students was great to see. –William Fay, Founder/President of Production at Legendary Pictures (Batman, Superman,Inception, The Hangover, 300,The Patriot) ________________________________

We would like to invite you, your colleagues, and students to Silicon Beach’s A Celebration of Light & Hero’s Odyssey Mythology Photography show includingThe Hero’s Odyssey in Arts Entrepreneurship & Technology lecture (10:30AM-Noon), Fine Art Photography Gallery Show featuring Dr. Elliot McGucken’s Hero’s Odyssey Mythology Photography (Noon-3 PM), and a Silicon Beach networking event at THE GALLERY (Noon-3 PM) in Westwood CA close to UCLA on Saturday the 19th of July.

Join Silicon Beach’s DJs and JDs, MBAs and VCs, engineers, filmmakers, videogame designers, students, writers, photographers, musicians, artists, and entrepreneurs at the Hero’s Odyssey in Arts, Entrepreneurship & Technology event! Dr. E’s NSF-funded, award-winning Ph.D. physics dissertation on an artificial retina chipset for the blind (which was recently FDA-approved) is now helping the blind see. Dr. E’s Hero’s Odyssey Mythology Photography collection, which receives over 1,000,000 views/day, also celebrates light, alongside his Moving Dimensions Theory’s equation dx4/dt=ic ( http://herosodysseyphysics.wordpress.com ), with which Dr. E signs all of his fine art, as it describes the foundational motion governing the character and behavior of light, guiding the photons which form our photography as the silicon chip captures and freezes time forever. Join us at Silicon Beach’s Celebration of Light! The AM lecture will feature a rendition of Dr. E’s Hero’s Odyssey Entrepreneurship lecture paralleling the the artist and entrepreneurs’ journeys with that of classical heroes found in epic mythology, as the quests of the likes of Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Sara Blakely, Russel Simmons, Jack Bogle (and your own quest!) are seen to have the same foundational structure as the journeys of Odysseus, Luke, Aeneas, Frodo, and Neo. Versions of Dr. E’s popular Hero’s Odyssey Entrepreneurship lecture have been delivered at Austin’s SXSW, UCLA, UCSD, Duke, UNC, Princeton, Harvard, Syracuse University’s Entrepreneurship Classroom, ITConversations, and may be heard here:

“I feel like sharing some music with you”—the sublime sense of being inspired to share something with the world—is how it all began, with Homer singing of the classic arts entrepreneur—the one skilled in all ways of contending, seeking to serve: Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the storyof that man skilled in all ways of contending…He saw the townlands,and learned the minds of many distant men…and weathered many bitter nights and daysin his deep heart at sea . . .Striving only to bring his men home. –Homer’s Odyssey Dr. E’s The Hero’s Odyssey in Arts Entrepreneurship & Technology ~table of contents of Dr. E’s upcoming book

2.3 Temptation: Seeking short-term profits over long-term wealth. A partner turns out to be a shape-shifter.

2.4 Atonement with the Father: Competing or collaborating with the big guys–the Microsofts and Apples, the Hollywood studios.

2.5 Realizing the core business Apotheosis. A product, service, or art that truly serves and adds value.

2.6 The Ultimate Boon: Newfound business acumen!

3. Return: Innovation is all for naught without the road back to the market.

3.1 Refusal of the Return: Don’t lose site of the core business and original goals.

3.2 The Magic Flight: Exit strategy! IPO or selling the company!

3.3 Rescue from Without: When business competition is your best friend. Someone you once mentored now helps you.

3.4 The Crossing of the Return Threshold: The venture is a success!

3.5 Master of Two Worlds: You know what it takes–like Richard Branson and Steve Jobs you can cross over to the entrepreneurial realm in new ventures and varied arenas.

3.6 Freedom to Live: Financial freedom to pursue your dreams and help others!

The Hero’s Odyssey in the Arts, Entrepreneurship, & Technology Jack Bogle writes, “I want to thank . . . Elliot McGucken, Ph.D. . . whose course The Hero’s Odyssey in Artistic Entrepreneurship and Technology is an inspiring tribute to the relevance of classical ideals in our modern lives.” —Jack Bogle, founder and former CEO of Wall Street’s Vanguard Group in his book, Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life, Wiley, 2008 While proofing the book circa 2007/2008. Dr. E suggested some wisdom which Bogle included, including Socrates’, “Virtue does not come from money, but money and every lasting good of man derives from virtue,” and Homer’s, “Fair dealing leads to greater profit in the end.” The New York Times reported, “McGucken’s course (The Hero’s Odyssey in Arts Entrepreneurship & Technology 101). . . rests on the principle that those who create art should have the skills to own it, profit from it and protect it. “It’s about how to make your passion your profession, your avocation your vocation, and to make this long-term sustainable,” he said. –New York Times Small BusinessBusiness Week 2006: From Beethoven to Bob Dylan: “Every artist is an entrepreneur.” So argues Dr. Elliot McGucken, a visiting professor at Pepperdine University, in an online video introduction to his course, Art Entrepreneurship & Technology 101, which has the professor lecturing from the shore of a small lake. Among his suggestions for artists who want to be more entrepreneurial: launch a blog.” –Business Week 2006A Brief History ofThe Hero’s Odyssey in the Arts, Entrepreneurship, & Technology Just like Homer’s Iliad, the best place to begin is “en media res,” by listening to Dr. E’s 2007 ITConversations “Hero’s Odyssey Entrepreneurship” Podcast which he was invited to partake in after delivering his “Hero’s Odyssey Entrepreneurship” lecture to a packed room at Austin’s 2007 SXSW. A few weeks later Dr. E would host his own Hero’s Odyssey Entrepreneurship Festival in Malibu, paralleling the 2005-2006 Hero’s Odyssey in Arts Entrepreneurship & Technology class which over 110 students from all disciplines applied to partake in at UNC Chapel Hill. I hope that all these “Hero’s Odyssey Mythology” resources may inspire students and faculty–both within and beyond the university–to use the world’s rich mythological heritage to inspire and guide long-term ventures in business, art, and entrepreneurship. Dr. E’s Hero’s Odyssey Mythology Photography Collection receives over 1,000,000 views/day. Pieces hanging in the Los Angeles gallery above include Ulysses’ Sunset,The Call to Adventure, The Hero’s Odyssey Monomyth, Rage of Achilles over River Styx, Calypso’s Cave, Thor’s Hammer, and Dante: Follow your own star. The ten-foot triptych of Monument Valley on the upper left is titled The Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid. Enjoy some of Dr. E’s fine art set to Beethoven’s Third Symphony Eroica–the Heroic Symphony: The Hero’s Odyssey in the Arts, Entrepreneurship, & Technology 2005 The Triangle Business Journal reports: What do you get when you combine an interest in the arts with an interest in entrepreneurial ventures and an interest in cutting-edge technology? Dr. Elliot McGucken at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill says the result is someone he calls an artistic entrepreneur. Thus, he’s received a grant from the Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative to launch a class called Artistic Entrepreneurship. Known as “Dr. E” to his students, McGucken teaches physics and programming and has published a poetry book, a novel, a collection of essays, several scientific articles and – huh? – poetry in The Wall Street Journal. –The Triangle Business Journal, 2005 Go Into the Story: The Web’s #1 Screenwriting Blog: The Hero’s Odyssey as entrepreneurial model? GITS reader and long-time friend Richard Rumble sourced this interesting site that uses Joseph Campbell’s theories re The Hero’s Odyssey as the basis for teaching entrepreneurship. At first, that might leave you scratching your head, but check out this outline from the website: Artistic Entrepreneurship 101 Outline: (Based on Joseph Campbell’s classic Hero With a Thousand Faces)ARTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP: HOW TO BE A HERO by Mike Vargo From The Kauffman Foundation’s 2007 Thoughtbook (Interview conducted summer 2006): Elliot McGucken has an artful way of teaching entrepreneurship to artists. He explains the entrepreneurial process, for instance, by comparing it to the classic “hero’s odyssey” in myths and epics. Typically, in the first stage of the story, the hero embarks on a quest that requires “separation” or “departure” from the familiar world (here McGucken finds strong parallels to the decision to start a company) — and after many twists, the journey ends with the hero’s “return” (exit strategy). “Every aspect of classical story, including antagonists, mentors, reversals of fortune, and the seizing of the sword from the stone, may be found in the realm of entrepreneurship,” McGucken claims. Dr. E keynoting the 2009 Syracuse University Entrepreneurship Classroom which hosts teachers, professors, and academics interested in entrepreneurship and innovation in education: Note that most everyone is still awake! Dr. E was a mentor at hiphop entrepreneur Russell Simmons’ The Race to Be/BE THE STORY: “Mentor Elliot McGucken references that young entrepreneurs have just the same problems as the big studios re: piracy.” Dr. E’s patent applications on Rights Management for indie artists have been referenced by the likes of Google, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Apple, and Ebay. Dr. E introducing William Fay at the Hero’s Odyssey Entrepreneurship Festival. Mr. Fay is the President of Production at Legendary Pictures, whose credits include 300, Superman, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Patriot, Independence Day, The Hangover, Where the Wild Things Are, World of Warcraft (based on the videogame!), and Paradise Lost, and it was great to hear his epic stories regarding the production of today’s epic blockbusters.Regarding Dr. E’s Hero’s Odyssey in Arts Entrepreneurship & Technology Lecture, a UCLA MBA student & recording artist recently wrote: Dr. E—your lecture really stayed with me, and I’ve thought about it long after class. I am a recording artist so it resonated with me–that the entrepreneur’s journey is similar to that of the mythic hero — I’ve had a Billboard charting single and music placements on TLC and VH1 but I’d been reluctant to really put myself completely into it because of the uncertainty involved–the refusal of the call.. . . Now I see it as a natural process–as going into my own “departure” into the woods. Your lecture renewed my focus and energy. . . as it associated structure with what often feels like a chaotic journey. Sometimes failure, enemies, and refusal are part of the journey when one sets off to live by ideals and art–they don’t teach this in other classes, where failure to fit in to the corporate structure, which itself is so often corrupt, is failure. The way you apply mythology to entrepreneurship is innovative, inspiring, energizing and enlightening. There should be more classes like this in every MBA program, as it appealed to me as an artist and as an MBA. The mythological blueprint brings new meaning to the entrepreneurial/MBA experience, as one feels like a mythic hero on their own professional journey, where it’s OK to be fired as long as one has the truth on their side; as long as one never fires their own idealism. This stayed with me long after the class, as I started to see my life and professional progress as a great journey. I was energized with excitement for every part of the process.for like you said, although the The Lord of The Rings was about getting the ring to Mordor, what would have the nine-hour journey been without the “tests, allies, and enemies;” without friends and epic battles? Would love a copy of The Gold 45 Revolver: The Hero’s Odyssey in Arts Entrepreneurship & Technology when it comes out. I feel like sharing some music with you. “I feel like sharing some music with you”—the sublime sense of being inspired to share something with the world—is how it all began, with Homer singing of the classic entrepreneur—the one skilled in all ways of contending, seeking to serve: Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the storyof that man skilled in all ways of contending…He saw the townlands,and learned the minds of many distant men…and weathered many bitter nights and daysin his deep heart at sea . . .Striving only to bring his men home. –Homer’s Odyssey And the goal of “Hero’s Odyssey Entrepreneurship” has ever been to serve the student, artist, and entrepreneur, alongside Truth and Beauty, as Dr. E penned circa 2006/2007:

The Hero’s Odyssey Entrepreneurship festival aims to be a most useful event for students, teachers, and anyone starting or launching a venture. The same classical values guiding the rising artistic renaissance will protect the artists’ intellectual property. The immortal ideals which guide the story of blockbuster books and movies such asThe Matrix, Lord of the Rings, Braveheart,The Chronicles of Narnia, and Star Wars, are the very same ideals underlying the United States Constitution. These classic ideals–which pervade Homer, Plato, Shakespeare, and the Bible–are the source of both epic story and property rights, of law and business, of academia and civilization.

It is great to witness classical ideals performed in Middle Earth, upon the Scottish Highlands, long ago, in a galaxy far, far, away, and in Narnia, but too, such ideals must be perpetually performed in the contemporary context and living language.

The Hero’s Odyssey in Arts Entrepreneurship & Technology seeks to give students, artists, and entrepreneurs the tools to make their passions their professions–to protect and profit from their ideas–to take ownership in their careers and creations. For Adam Smith’s invisible hand enriches all when happiness is pursued by artists and innovators–society’s natural founts of wealth. Thomas Jefferson eloquently expressed the entrepreneurial premise: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. –The Declaration of Independence

The only clause in the main body of the United States Constitution that mentions “Rights” states the following: The Congress shall have power to . . . promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries; –The United States Constitution Couple these two passages together, and one has the moral premise of Artistic Entrepreneurship & Technology. Every student ought be given the tools to create new ventures–to protect their intellectual property, and to pursue and profit from their dreams on their “Hero’s Odyssey” into entrepreneurship. For it is along that journey that the long-term “wealth of nations” is generated.

Please enjoy this compilation of some early Hero’s Odyssey Entrepreneurship & “The Hero’s Odyssey in Arts Entrepreneurship & Technology” Lectures, Articles, Blogs, Interviews, Science, Art, Entrepreneurship, & Reflections by Dr. E et al. Begin by listening to award-winning-physicist/engineer/screenwriter Dr. E’s 2007 ITConversations “Hero’s Odyssey Entrepreneurship” Podcast which he was invited to do after delivering his “Hero’s Odyssey Entrepreneurship” lecture to a packed room at Austin’s 2007 SXSW. The lecture, based on Joseph Campbell’s Joycean monomyth, was the center and circumference of Dr. E’s innovative Hero’s Odyssey in Arts Entrepreneurship & Technology class and Hero’s Odyssey Entrepreneurship Festival, which was funded by the Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative, Kenan Institute, and Kauffman Foundation at UNC Chapel Hill in 2005-2006 and Pepperdine University in Malibu in 2006-2009. The spirit of the class continues on in Dr. E’s Hero’s Odyssey Mythology fine art photography collection and gallery shows, 45SURF Hero’s Odyssey Mythology surfline, technologies to empower artists with digital rights management, novel videogames, award-winning screenplays, novels, and a graphic novel slated to appear at this year’s San Diego’s Comic Con International. And most importantly, the spirit of the class continues on in several soon-to-be-published manuscripts devoted to Hero’s Odyssey Mythology and Entrepreneurship, so that the most-popular, highly-rated Hero’s Odyssey in Arts Entrepreneurship & Technology class may continue serving many more students. And just as every artist is an entrepreneur, and all entrepreneurs artists, so too is is that every artist and entrepreneur is first and foremost a perpetual, lifelong student. In every class I teach, I am part of the Fellowship. Enjoy some early thoughts and musings on Hero’s Odyssey Mythology & Entrepreneurship! from The Hero’s Odyssey in Arts Entrepreneurship & Technology

Dr. E received a Merrill Lynch Innovations Award for his Fight for Sight & NSF-funded physics Ph.D. dissertation on an artificial retina for the blind titled Multiple Unit Artificial Retina Chipset to Aid the Visually Impaired and Enhanced CMOS Phototransistors, which is now helping the blind see. While receiving the award atop the World Trade Center for the research which appeared in Popular Science, NSF’s Frontiers, and numerous academic/IEEE journals, Dr. E thanked the fellowship of doctors, scientists, and engineers who had made the humble hero’s odyssey possible, and gave the technology away freely.

The Wall Street Journal reported, “After winning (the Merrill Lynch Innovations Grant Contest for an artificial retina for the blind), he got to tour the New York Stock Exchange. Dr. McGucken caught the entrepreneurial bug. Eventually, he launched an internet company devoted to his longtime passions: writing and classical literature. . .The Web site is filled with Dr. McGucken’s poetry and commentary and discussion groups on classic literature. “It’s all written in a classical context with a Generation X attitude,” he says. He sells ads to online vendors in fields ranging from life insurance to pantyhose and has a deal with Amazon.com that gives him a cut of sales generated by his site. . . HE HAS RESISTED the siren call of big business, although he has talked to venture capitalists and he almost sold out to a larger company before that company was taken over. Dr. McGucken wouldn’t mind being part of a larger site, but he doesn’t want to be a larger company. “If I was to try to squeeze huge profits out of it to please venture capitalists, it would ruin the spirit of it,” he says. . .” –The Wall Street Journal The top ten-foot-wide tryptic Hero’s Odyssey Mythology artwork of Monument Valley is titled THE ILIAD, ODYSSEY, & AENEID. (from Dr. E’s fine art Hero’s Odyssey Mythology Photography collection.) Dr. E is donating some of his fine art to area hospitals, with the hopes that someday someone empowered with the artificial retina chipset may also find a bit of inspiration in a larger rendering of Monument Valley.

The Triangle Business Journal reports: What do you get when you combine an interest in the arts with an interest in entrepreneurial ventures and an interest in cutting-edge technology? Dr. Elliot McGucken at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill says the result is someone he calls an artistic entrepreneur. Thus, he’s received a grant from the Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative to launch a class called Artistic Entrepreneurship. Known as “Dr. E” to his students, McGucken teaches physics and programming and has published a poetry book, a novel, a collection of essays, several scientific articles and – huh? – poetry in The Wall Street Journal. Go Into the Story:

The Web’s #1 Screenwriting Blog: The Hero’s Odyssey as entrepreneurial model? GITS reader and long-time friend Richard Rumble sourced this interesting site that uses Joseph Campbell’s theories re The Hero’s Odyssey as the basis for teaching entrepreneurship. At first, that might leave you scratching your head, but check out this outline from the website: Artistic Entrepreneurship 101 Outline: (Based on the epic hero’s monomyth) ARTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP: HOW TO BE A HERO by Mike Vargo From The Kauffman Foundation’s 2007 Thoughtbook (Interview conducted summer 2006): Elliot McGucken has an artful way of teaching entrepreneurship to artists. He explains the entrepreneurial process, for instance, by comparing it to the classic “hero’s odyssey” in myths and epics. Typically, in the first stage of the story, the hero embarks on a quest that requires “separation” or “departure” from the familiar world (here McGucken finds strong parallels to the decision to start a company) — and after many twists, the journey ends with the hero’s “return” (exit strategy). “Every aspect of classical story, including antagonists, mentors, reversals of fortune, and the seizing of the sword from the stone, may be found in the realm of entrepreneurship,” McGucken claims. Every entrepreneurial journey follows the Joycean Monomyth’s epic themes, from “the call to adventure (seeing the opportunity),” to “the refusal of the call (it would be too risky)”, to “meeting the mentor (finding inspiration from Branson/ Jobs/ Bogle/ Achilles/ Odysseus/ Aeneas–those who have gone before),” to “crossing the threshold(Zuckerberg/ Jobs/ Gates dropping out of college),” to “the road of trials (raising funding/ securing IP/ forming the fellowship),” to “the death (Jobs being fired from Apple/ Bogle being fired from the Wellington Fund/ Dante being exiled from Florence/ Aeneas losing it all in the fall of Troy), to “the resurrection (Jobs returning and reviving Apple/ Bogle launching Vanguard/ Dante penning The Divine Comedy in exile/ Aeneas founding Rome), to “the journey home (getting products to market–real artists ship!)” with the “ultimate boon (iphone/ ipad/ itunes / Vanguard index fund/ facebook),” and perhaps the greatest reward of all–the elixir of life-enhancing, newfound knowledge and wisdom. Yes–those more heroic entrepreneurs have ever been those who served the higher ideals over the bottom line. — https://herosodysseyentrepreneurship.wordpress.com/ (c) Dr. Elliot McGucken 2014